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Published: July 12th 2010
After 35 years, the day has finally arrived! The day I get my feet out of Australia! The previous night, I went to bed laughing kind of hysterically because over the next five weeks, it will be me and my son of 13 turning 14 and the world! We will be visiting Hong Kong, London, New York City, Paris and Rome! Alone in those massive cities! Shall be fun to see how I cope and if I can conquer them all without landing in a heap.
Our first flight was an early one leaving Adelaide Airport to Sydney. It was a case of, if things aren't packed now, too bad, we are on our way! My little kids were excited I think. I was a touch mixed, as I was starting to feel a touch sick, but didn't want to let that on. (Joel has been sick the previous thursday with gastro, and I hope to hell I haven't suddenly caught it!).
Getting to the airport, my dad greeted us, to farewell us off. It was kind of such a surreal experience. I was buzzing, and all, obviously. I did have a bit of an argument with Joel before
leaving our house over the lack of jackets he was taking, but in the end decided, oh well, more space for the things I purchase I guess!
Booking in our luggage, I noted that we were not given a window seat as previously requested. I was so not happy about this. I was desperate to make sure this didn't happen for the next leg from Sydney to Hong Kong, so the plan was as soon as we get to the airport race to the line, in Sydney as the flight was a three hour wait.
When our flight was finally called, we made our way down the walkway to the plane so that the family could wave to us. Joel ran ahead waving his arms like a lunatic (much to the amusement of my dad and hubby would imagined I was going to have hell for five weeks!). He was screaming "I'm a dementor". It was so strange sitting there. The trip was actually really going to happen, and not much other than a plane crash was to stop it now!
We made our way right to the back of the plane, and got ready for take
off. Being only a domestic flight, we didn't get inflight entertainment (unless you paid). There was no food offered, and I was already starting to feel dehydrated. Not a good thing.
The flight was fairly uneventful. Flying over Sydney was amazing, but as we landed, it was a bit of a bumpy landing, and joel nearly jumped in my lap at one stage! Was pretty funny.
Arriving in Sydney, I needed pain relief. Migraine in process 😞 We had to wait for a bus to ferry us from domestic to international, and upon arriving at international we had about a half hour to fourty five minute wait til the gates were open for us to book into the Hong Kong flight. The most important thing was our seats were window seats, now to get food.
A tip, there is the outside and inside in airports. If you have a ticket you can go into the inner sanctum and there are shops galore in there. We unfortunately ate on the outside, so couldn't take the remainder of our drink through to the inner sanctum, even though you can purchase drinks on that side?????? Dont quite get that. We
kind of skipped over the duty free shopping, due to the headache.
The wait to get on the plane was somewhat painful. I purchased some panadine, skulled a few hundred mls of drink, and spend the time trying to relax between the constant running to the loo!
Getting on our flight to Hong Kong was a total joy. We made our way to our seats which were so much nicer than the domestic flight. Joel enjoyed the inflight entertainment and watched who knows how many movies, and with them constantly bringing the food around, it was his idea of heaven!
When we finally arrived in Hong Kong, it was yet another buzz. Getting off the plane and having to hop into a train to get to the customs part and everything else, I just wanted to yell, Hey everyone I'm overseas, and its my first time! When we finally got out of that whole part, the next step was to get money! Our first atm rejected my card. Not a good thing. I did remember something about there were only certain machines that would do it, so tried a different group and luckily scored.
We then
boarded a train to the city. Watching out the window on the way it, we were definitely in another world. The apartment buildings that lined the tracks were huge, and instead of just having one or two, they would be in groups of five or so, and probably taller than the tallest building in Adelaide, and thats just for people to live in!
Arriving at Hong Kong Central, we had to cross to a different train to get to the Kowloon side. Where our accommodation was. The next train was awesome. They have about 8 carriages and its entirely open all the way down the train. Also for it being around 11pm, there were so many people on them!
Finally getting to the YMCA Salisbury was a relief. We were staying on the 8th floor and although it would have been nicer to be higher up the building, the view was still pretty good out the window. Time now to crash into bed, to face our first day in this foreign city.
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